A musical variety show which last year won Canada's top recording award (`Juno') for children and the Parents' Choice Award in the US, will bring this year's Kidfest to a wildly comic ending.

Al Simmons, a frequent guest on Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and The Learning Channel, brings his unique brand of humour and decidedly different array of musical instruments to his latest costume-and-prop routine called `Celery Stalks at Midnight'.

"This is a funny, funny show,'' promises Kidfest founder and director Paula Maguire. "Children love the wacky humour of Al's musical misadventures for which he uses lots of well known tunes and substituting his own crazy words.

By the way, after he won the top Canadian award, he had to keep some of the crazy promises he had published in a list called `What I will do if I win the Juno.' Well, he did win it and among the things he had to do was to walk down Main Street wearing pants that were 25 sizes too big, break the world's record by eating 275 celery stalks in just seven and a half minutes, and take a bus from one end of Winnipeg to another while passing out celery and cheese hors d'oeuvres to other passengers. The promises were taped and broadcast on Global Television network across Canada.'' In its review of his `Celery Stalks' album, the RPM Weekly magazine thought it "rather too good for the wee perishers'' and compared him with "Danny Kaye as he might have performed with Spike Jones and the City Slickers''.

Described as following in the tradition of great comedians such as Red Skelton, Milton Berle and Jimmy Durante, Al Simmons' show, billed as `A Musical One-Man Cast of Thousands', has a special appeal for adults as well as children.

Hailed as an artist whose work encourages the imagination of children, he comes from a family of eccentric entertainers: his uncle, for instance, made a name for himself as `Steamboat Harris', touring the US and Canada and famous for playing a ukelele built out of a toilet seat. Young Al was thrilled to discover that having grown up entertaining his family and friends with vaudeville-type antics, he could also earn a living at it. He has never looked back. For many years he and famous fellow entertainer Fred Penner delighted nation-wide audiences with their comedy rock band, Kornstalk.

`Celery Stalks at Midnight', sponsored by Renaissance Reinsurance and geared especially at children between the ages of four and ten, will be presented by Kidfest at City Hall this Sunday, March 23 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tickets at $15 are available from The Bookmart in the Phoenix Centre.

CELERY, ANYONE? -- Described as "a brilliant ode to vaudeville'', Al Simmons' one-man show, `Celery Stalks at Midnight' will bring the Kidfest season to a comic close this weekend.